Regarding Alina Micro/Piranha

From July 30 through August 17, dealmac and dealnews received several complaints regarding Alina Micro (dba Piranha Technology). On August 19, dealnews suspended the publication of new deals from Alina Micro pending an investigation into these complaints.

The following summary is based on those complaints and Alina Micro's responses to the complaints when we forwarded them.

The majority of complaints involve invalid product descriptions or part numbers. Alina Micro customers received wrong products because of typos on the Alina Micro website or email newsletter, most due to an incorrectly listed Pioneer DVD burner. When customers arranged a return, Alina Micro did not pay for the return shipping. (If you ordered a Pioneer DVD burner from Alina Micro, we suggest that you check that you received the correct model number.)

One Alina Micro customer received a used product sold as new. When the customer arranged a return, Alina Micro did not issue a credit quickly enough to satisfy the customer, so the customer contested the charge with his credit card issuer. This customer also paid for return shipping.

Other observations from our readers:

• Alina Micro customer service does a poor job of responding to email.
• Alina Micro's return procedure is difficult.
• Alina Micro charges customer credit cards immediately when customers place an order, not when they ship an order. Sometimes, Alina Micro never ships the item.
• Alina Micro is slow to issue a credit.
• No reader received an apology before contacting us.

dealnews has not placed a recent "test" order at Alina Micro. An order placed in January 2002 was received as promised. A thread in our forum started in July paints a mixed picture of Alina Micro. Third-party ratings sites (1, 2) reflect negatively on Alina Micro's customer support, with mixed information on its product fulfillment.

 

ALINA MICRO RESPONDS

To our knowledge, Alina Micro did not originally attempt to contact any of our readers who filed complaints once we brought these complaints to their attention. However, Alina Micro did contact us to explain the circumstances of most of the complaints (e.g., typos). We then asked Alina Micro to work towards rescinding the complaints filed by our readers. Alina Micro sent two of our readers apologies, with an offer for 20% off any future purchase. None of our readers have rescinded their complaints.

Alina Micro has informed us of a good-faith effort to prevent future complaints. According to its CEO, it has added additional staff to its technical support department to improve its customer service. It has also added staff to its marketing department to prevent typos that are the source of many of the complaints we've seen.

 

CONCLUSIONS

Because of Alina Micro's efforts, dealnews believes that its readers will best be served if dealnews continues to list deals at Alina Micro with a disclaimer about its history of after-sales service and a link back to this article. Readers will then be able to decide for themselves if the potential hassle is worth the deal, as well as know to please keep us informed. (dealnews terms this "probation" and has previously applied it to Staples.com and emachines.)

dealnews will closely monitor Alina Micro-related complaints. Should complaints continue to mount, dealnews will revisit its policy towards Alina Micro.